What's so special about this place anyway?
by JoeBratTrinity
Summary: This is why you don't let me get hold of benadryl. Starring a group of the Joe Brats, what if one of them and one of the Joes get in over their heads. May/December pairing- Cross-Country/Trini Abernathy Rated T for some explicit types of situations
1. Chapter 1

"I'm bored," stated Travis Abernathy in the quiet room. He was sitting on the window seat in the living room.

"Join the party," grumped his sister Trinity, who was perched on the couch next to veteran Joe Cross-Country. He, Grand Slam and Hawk had been on a mission in the area, and since it was now over, they were hanging out for a little while at Hawk's family's home in Denver.

Travis and Trini's sister, Christine, was sitting at the writing desk by the window and reading the newspaper. She burst out laughing.

"Not funny, Chris," Travis grumpily sighed.

"Huh, what?" Christine asked as she looked up from the classified ads that she was reading.

"What's so funny?" asked their friend Jamie Barney, who was sprawled on the floor playing cards with her father James, better known as Grand Slam.

"The owners of the Cooperston Mansion are advertising for a group to come explore the mansion, and see if they can't solve the mystery of the 'Deflowered Virgins'. Again," Christine giggled. "They took out a whole page in the newspaper about it."

"We ain't got nothing better to do. Why don't we do it?" Travis asked.

"Not like we're scared of much," Jamie piped up.

"Just Dad's leather belt," Trinity and Christine giggled.

"I'll make the call," Clayton Abernathy offered. The head honcho of the G.I. Joe unit, General Hawk knew just how bad boredom was for the unit members, and considering that the kids were even worse than the Joes, he knew he had to do something to keep them busy; and do it quickly. "So James, Bobby, are you guys in?" he asked.

"Sure, Hawk," Cross-Country stated. "I've never been scared of haunted houses. I grew up in one."

"I'm in," Grand Slam laughed. "I'm almost as bored as Travis."

"Count us in," Hawk's wife, Syn, and Grand Slam's wife, Cadie, chorused.

The next night the group met with the mansion's owners.


	2. The Night begins

"I'm Darlene Cooper. So you're the ones that called yesterday morning?" the young woman asked.

Hawk nodded. "I'm Clayton Abernathy; this is my wife Syn, and our triplets- Christine, Travis and Trinity. The mismatched couple over here is James and Cadie Barney, and their daughter, Jamie; and the other guys with us are EJ Steen and Bobby Blais. The young woman with Travis is his girlfriend, Gina Kelly. We all know for a fact that there's not much that can scare any of us, so we think we're pretty brave, and if Trini and Jamie can't figure out the mystery, then it will never be figured out," he explained.

"So what is the legend associated with this place?" EJ asked.

"Well," the older man hedged, "No one has been able to spend the night here in over two hundred years."

"We can do it," Jamie smirked. "Beach Head and Sergeant Slaughter pissed off can't chase us out of the Rec hall summer nights, so why could anything else?"

"And that's not the worst part," Darlene stated. "The other legend is that if a couple goes in and winds up separated from the group; if a female is a virgin, then by midnight or at least morning, she will have been raped, and her companion will be guilty."

"Only the couples with a virgin can be separated from the rest, and no one knows how it happens," Darlene's father reveals.

"I'll go with Trinity," Cross-Country declared. She playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Chicken," she sniped.

"No, you just have a tendency to notice things that I would miss," he reminded her.

"Jamie, you're with me," Grand Slam stated sternly. Jamie rolled her eyes.

"We'll stay out here as Command Central," Syn and Spitfyre agreed.

The rest of the group went inside.

As they were walking, Trini piped up with a question. "Does anyone know what started the haunting?" she asked.

"The family legend is that his wife caught him deflowering his sister, and she attacked him, threatening a divorce. Something happened and both of them died within weeks of each other," Darlene admitted. "There was supposed to be a marriage or alliance or something with an Abernathy, but no one ever found out who or what it was."

Trini and Christine sighed. "That's good to know," Trini stated. "Now it's double the pressure."

They had just stepped out of the upper bedroom that had belonged to the sister of the resident ghost, when Hawk's head suddenly snapped to the side.

"Dad!" Trini exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Trini, I'm okay. It's nothing too damaging," Hawk told her. She came forward and checked the slight injury just in case.

"What the hell just happened?" Travis asked.

"Watch your language, boy. I don't even know what hit me. I stepped out of the door and something slapped me. Whoever or whatever it was has a strength comparable to Trini and Jamie's," Hawk admitted.

Not long after, they were getting ready to leave the third floor and go back downstairs, James suddenly jumped and yelled. The whole group heard a childish, girlish giggle.

Jamie leaped backwards and into the wall as her dad yelped.

"Jamie, what was that for?" he asked, reaching around to grab his butt.

"I didn't do it," Jamie retorted. "I wasn't even in arm's reach, Dad. Yours or mine."

"Well, somebody grabbed my butt," he whined.

"It wasn't any of us. We were ahead of you, remember?" Gina stated.

"This is true," he murmured sheepishly as he realized that he was standing on the highest step in the group. All of the females in the group were already down on the second floor.


	3. What's wrong with you?

They were about halfway through with their fifth walk-through of the mansion later that night when Trini has to stop to tie her shoe. Cross-Country dropped back to guard her. They were only a few steps behind the others, but just before they caught up with the rest of the group, the door slammed shut in their faces.

Both Cross-Country and Trinity swear. They both throw their weight against the portal, trying to bust it open, but nothing works. They both try pulling it open, using their weight, but no luck.

"Try the radio," Cross-Country orders. Trini yanks the radio from her pocket and attempts to call out to the rest of the group. She gets two or three words in, and the radio goes dead in her hand.

"Mine's dead. Try yours," she requests. He tries his with the same result.

"Damn, looks like we're trapped," he grumbles.

Trini starts shivering as the room gets cool. She's exploring the walls and windows, looking for another way out, and her back is to him. His mind goes blank, and he steps across the room and grabs her arm, spinning her around and powerfully grabbing her upper arms.

"You engineered this situation, didn't you? You switched the batteries out of the radios, and you locked the door from the outside before you slammed it, didn't you?" he accused, shaking her like a rag doll.

"N-no," she denies. "I didn't have anything to do with it." He grips her arms even tighter as she tries to squirm and pull away. "Cross-Country, B-Bobby, you're…you're hurting me. Let me go!" she pleads.

"You little tramp," he snarls at her. She draws back and slaps him, hard. He tightens his grip and picks her up off of the floor, turning and throwing her across the room onto the bed. He follows her and climbs up onto the bed, straddling her body and bends forward; kissing her before she can comprehend what is going on.

When he pulls back to catch his breath, she can see that his eyes are entirely black, which lets her know that something is very wrong; that he is not himself. His hands lower to the collar of her shirt and she begins to fight him as comprehension dawns on her. She slaps his face again and he backhands her, knocking her senseless for a moment or two.

He grasps the edges of her shirt and yanks them apart, popping buttons off in every direction. He then wraps his hand in her bra and rips it completely off of her body. His eyes widen in wonder at the sight of her bared chest. His voice was completely different from normal as he caresses the soft skin and then bends over to take a taste of her. His hands wander down to her belt buckle and she sighs in frustration.

Trini gathered her strength and belted him in the jaw. She knew that if she had let him get past her belt; there would have been no stopping him, and she would be gone.

"_He'd better thank me for that in the morning," _she thought. She managed to push his unconscious form off of her and rolled off of the bed in the other direction. She was sitting on a stool in the corner and exploring the wall for clues when she heard him stir.

"Jesus, my jaw hurts," he softly complains. Trini can tell by his voice that he is once again himself. The sound of soft sobbing becomes louder in the room.

Cross-Country lifts his head, looking around to try and find the source of the sound. He sees Trini sitting in the corner with her back to him and thinks that she is the source.

"Trini? What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

She slowly stands up and turns around. Her cheek is swollen and discolored; and her lip is split. There's a thin trail of dried blood from the corner of her mouth, and her right eye is turning a deep shade of purple; and he can see where her shirt had been torn. She had it tied securely just below her breasts.

Cross-Country moves his arm and feels some fabric clutched in his fist. When he suddenly realized that it was her bra, he blanched, swore, and dropped it as if it had burned him. He rolls off of the bed and strides over to her side.

"Trini, Mouse, who did this to you?" he asked, lightly touching her face and wincing as she flinched away from him.

She bows her head, but not before he saw her face pale even more than it normally was.

"Y-you did," she whispered.

"Oh jeez, Mouse. I'm so sorry; so goddamned sorry. I had no right to hit you," he apologized, pulling her into his arms and pressing her face to his chest. She turned her head and reached up, laying her finger against his lips, effectively silencing him.

"You…weren't exactly yourself, Bobby. It wasn't you, and I understand that," she softly told him.

He couldn't think straight and bent his head, kissing her full on the lips- passionately, possessively. Her arms slide around his neck.

"Bobby, I'm scared. Something's wrong, but I can't put my finger on what it is," she said. He tightens his arms around her.

"It's okay, Trini. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he promised. "Since all of the boys on the base are immature jerks, would you honor an old man by agreeing to be his girlfriend?"

Her head jerks back and she looks up at him; her eyes haunted. They soften as she looks at him; seeing the sincerity in his eyes.

"Yes, Bobby," she simply replies. He presses her against the wall, trapped by his body, and kisses her. The door from the hallway suddenly bursts open and the rest of the group hurtles in.

"Crap!" snaps Christine, "We're too late."

Cross-Country backs away from Trini a couple of steps, and she brushes the hair out of her face.

"It's okay. Nothing happened; we're alright," she declared.

"Trinity, your shirt!" exclaimed Hawk as he looked closely at her. Cross-Country notices that her shirt shows a little too much skin for his peace of mind and yanks his shirt off, putting it on her.

"I'm sorry, Hawk. I don't know what happened. One minute we were with you guys; and the next, we're locked in here by ourselves and the radios were dead. I remember thinking that it was one of my biggest fantasies coming true, and the next thing I know, I'm laying on the bed, my jaw hurts, and there's a shred of satin and lace in my fist," Cross-Country told his boss. He stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath, thrusting his fingers through his short dark brown hair. "I heard someone sobbing and then I saw Trini sitting on that stool in the corner, her back to me. I thought that she was the one crying, so I called to her and when she turned around, I knew that something was wrong."

He walked over and picked up the shredded fabric of her bra and stuffed it into his pocket, intent on replacing it as soon as he could.

A chill wind blows through the room and everyone in the room heard a loud, frustrated growl. Something knocks Trini off-balance and she falls backward, yelping, through a small door that had suddenly opened in the wall behind her. The portal shut before anyone can get to her.

"You're mine now, harlot!" the voice growls. Trini rolls with the momentum of the fall and comes back to her feet. The room is pitch-black and the air inside is so oppressive that it's hard for her to breathe. The rank odor in the room smells like hundreds of dead, decomposing bodies. She can hear the others trying to get the door open.

"Trinity!" screams Hawk. Cross-Country rams his shoulder into the door, as well as Hawk, EJ, Grand Slam and Travis. Even Jamie puts her prodigious strength into opening the door and is unsuccessful. They all slam it at the same time, but nothing happens. A loud, piercing scream is heard and the door pops open by itself. No more than a couple of minutes have passed, but Trini crawls out of the hidden room, beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Trini! Baby, are you alright?" Hawk asked as he and Cross-Country helped her to her feet.

She nods slowly. "I'm o-okay. This door leads to the hidden room where he kept the bodies of all of the girls that died when he forced himself on them. When his wife found out what was happening, she plotted with members of the local church and had him bricked up alive in the room with the bodies until he died, and then hung herself not more than a couple of weeks later. The last body that he hid in there was the body of his sister- the one who had been engaged. She committed suicide before the wedding happened."

She, Christine, Gina and Jamie all start shivering as the temperature in the room plummets. Suddenly, all of their flashlights go out at the same time. EJ and Trini yelp.

Not even a moment passes before the flashlights come on again.

"Drat! I can't see a thing," EJ complains.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Trini agrees.

"Holy Crap," Travis laughs.

"What?" EJ and Trini ask at the same time.

"No wonder you two can't see a thing. Your glasses have been switched," Gina explained, giggling. Hawk doesn't say a word; he just raises the digital camera and takes a picture.

"Lifeline's gonna love this one," he chuckles.

"How is this possible?" Jamie asked. "They were totally across the room from each other; with Bobby and Dad in between them."

The radios crackle.

"Are you guys okay?" Syn asked.

Trini keys hers. "Yeah, Mom, we're fine. EJ and I somehow managed to get our glasses switched, while we were totally across the room from each other. The problem's solved."

A misty figure coalesces beside the fireplace, and the guys form a protective ring around the girls as a man forms. Another misty figure forms between the group and the other figure, a young female stands there.

The male figure howls as it dissolves into a dark portal, fighting to get away from the darkness.

"Thank you for finally setting us free. By your survival tonight, you have banished the monster to the lowest pits of hell where he belongs. Now that we are no longer needed to guard him, we can now ascend to where our families wait for us," she said, fading away into a misty light.

The group looks at each other and makes their way to the door. After she stumbles, Cross-Country picked Trini up and carried her outside to where Syn and Cadie are waiting for them. Both women notice immediately that Trini is injured.

"What happened?" Syn asked.

"I, um, I attacked her," Cross-Country confessed. Syn draws her arm back and slaps him, causing him to almost drop Trini.

"Mom! He was under the influence of something. It wasn't his fault. I'll…I'll be all right," Trini argued. "He only struck me once, and I got the other injuries when I fell into that hidden room."


	4. The next morning

Darlene and her father came rushing up to the group just as the sun appears over the horizon. "I didn't think anyone could withstand a night in there," she stated.

"We're not just any ordinary Brats," Jamie started.

"We're the legendary Joe Brats," Trini, Travis, Gina, EJ, and Christine joined in, laughing. They all bumped fists and laughed.

The group explained what had happened and her face paled as they told her what had happened to Bobby and Trini.

"What room were you two in?" she asked.

"It was the large bedroom at the top of the stairs, across the landing from the stairs," Trini admitted.

"That was the room where the master of the house was reputed to take each of the virgins in his employ and force himself on them. Everybody who's been in the room swears that they get a feeling of being watched, and some females swear that they can feel a male touching them, groping them."

"I think that the master's spirit possessed Bobby and caused him to attempt to rape me," Trini admitted.

"Thank the Lord that you have such a powerful fist, Baby," Cross-Country told Trini. "I think that your quick thinking and even quicker punch saved you this time."

"You may be right," she smiled, snuggling into his hard strength.

"They also say that there was a hidden room there, built into the walls, where he kept the bodies of the girls who died when he forced himself on them, and that was where he was bricked up alive," Darlene told them.

"There is," Trini reported. "Something knocked me backwards into it after the rest of the group got into the bedroom."

Darlene reached up to touch Trini's hair. "What's this?" she asked, untangling an object from the tresses. It turned out to be a ring.

"Doesn't this look like the one in the painting of the spinster sister?" Christine asked.

"Yeah, it does," Gina agreed, as did the rest of the group.

"Hey look!" EJ exclaimed as he pointed to a window on the second floor. They could plainly see a woman standing in the glass, looking out.

Trini squirms in Bobby's arms. "Bobby, let me go. I have to go return this," she stated.

He puts her down onto her feet and follows as she takes the ring from Darlene and walks back inside, going up the stairs and into the feminine bedroom. She gently places the ring into the bowl on the vanity, as the owner would have all those years ago.

"Keep it, little one. It was meant to be yours," a disembodied voice told her. The ring itself rose into the air. Trini's hand rose of its own volition, fingers splayed, and the ring slid onto her finger.

"Take good care of her. She will make you the best wife possible," the voice told Bobby. He could almost swear that he felt a hand caressing his jaw where Trini had decked him earlier.

"Not until she's at least eighteen," Hawk growled.

"Even you cannot fight destiny, General," the voice replied.

Everyone smelled the scent of lilacs, which none of the girls was wearing, and it gradually faded.


	5. Back at the Pit

A few days later, the group was back at the Pit, and the story of what had happened had made its rounds of the base.

Hawk prints off the pictures that he'd taken while in the mansion, and printed a copy to take over to the infirmary, all of them intended for EJ except for one. He'd printed an extra photo of EJ and Trini after their glasses had been switched.

He noticed as he looked through the photos that several of them had anomalies on them; anomalies that had not shown up when he'd taken the pictures.

He took them over to Lifeline and let him see them before he passed them on.

The doctor looks over the photos. "Oh this is cute," he comments. "I'm definitely going to have to razz them about this one," he threatens, looking at the one with the switched glasses.

Trini and Jamie were over at the library, researching possible links between the Cooper family and the Abernathy family. The episode with the ring had given Trini an idea.

"Bingo!" Jamie exclaimed out of the blue. Trini jumped. She was almost asleep when Jamie's exclamation woke her up.

"What is it?" Trini asked.

Jamie pointed to a small article in the archived newspaper. It referred to the upcoming marriage of Lydia Cooper and Jerome Abernathy in eighteen thirty. "It's the connection. I think I know what happened. I think Lydia was engaged to Jerome, but the wedding was called off when he found out that she was not a virgin," Jamie stated.

"I think that Lydia's brother forced himself on her, and the shame of it caused her to have him bricked-up. It wasn't the wife that did it. She knew about it, but she didn't do it. Lydia did it, and Jerome helped her. Then they both committed suicide," Trini mused. "It's well known in the family that however many greats- Uncle Jerome committed suicide, and left a note that it was because he had helped his fiancée murder someone, even though the person deserved it. Pop-pop keeps it in the safe. It's supposed to be proof of Jerome's guilt."

"I'll print it out, and you take it to your dad. I guess that Lydia's spirit stayed on to guard virgins from her brother until someone was strong enough to break the curse by knocking their boyfriend out before he was able to do much to them. You had the double honor of being the one to do it because of your innocence and the fact that you're an Abernathy," Jamie said.

"Just my kind of luck," Trini muttered. "I'll take it by and see if Bobby's free, first, and explain to him what we've found, and then I'll take it by and show Dad. Colton and Flagg are here this morning, so I know that he's in conference with them."

She takes the printouts and heads out the door to the motor pool. Bobby spots her coming.

"I'll show you guys how it's supposed to be done," he threatens as she joins them. "Trini, Baby! Would you like to show these maggots how to change the oil in a diesel engine in minutes?"

"Sure, Cross-Country. I got some news for you, though," she stated, motioning him a few feet away from the recruits.

"What's up?" he asked her. She showed him the papers in her hand.

"This is what Jamie and I found this morning. Apparently, Lydia was the spinster sister who had the broken engagement because of her brother. She was the one who had him bricked up."

"Jesus," Cross-Country muttered, hugging her tightly. "Come on, baby. Let's show these noobs how to change oil."

"Let's do it, Minute Man," Trini teased.

A couple of days later, he came over to the infirmary, where she was on duty. She is sitting behind the desk, talking with Jamie and Wendy when he hands her a package.

"What's this?" she asked.

He sheepishly began rubbing the back of his neck. "Um…It's something I owe you," he revealed.

She opens the small parcel and finds a bra and matching panty set, almost identical to the bra that he had ripped off of her.

"It's to replace that one that I…um, that I ripped off of you that night," he explained.

"You didn't have to," she told him, "But thank you anyway."

"Cross-Country, you do realize that you're giving lingerie to one of the general's daughters, right?" Falcon asked from the hallway, where he stood with Psyche-Out, Stretcher and Airborne.

"Considering why I had to replace it, it's nothing but my pleasure," he replied to them. He bent over to Trini. "I enjoyed what I saw and what I tasted," he whispered to her.

Trini turned bright red, knowing that only Jamie knew what he was referring to.

After he left the infirmary, Wendy looked at Trini. "Did he really rip your bra off of you?" she asked.

Trini and Jamie nod.

"He sure did. He just wrapped his hand in it and then yanked. It came right off in his hand," she admitted. "I slapped him and he backhanded me. It cracked me stupid for a few minutes. After he reached for my belt, I decked him in the jaw and shoved him off of me when I knocked him out."

"You are so lucky," Wendy laughed.

"Not so lucky considering what he was trying to do to her," Jamie piped in. Trini looks around to make sure that no one else is in earshot of the three girls.

"Don't tell anyone else I said this, but I kinda enjoyed it. He really knows how to use his mouth," she whispered.

"He got all macho and went all Tarzan on you and you enjoyed it?" Wendy asked loudly; incredulously.

"So much for keeping that secret," Trini groaned.

Unfortunately for them, Falcon had overheard the comment and he called his older half-brother, Duke. He told him what he had heard and Duke went to Hawk about it.

Hawk called Syn. "Did Trini ever tell you exactly what happened with Bobby in that room?" he asked her over the phone.

"No, why?" Syn asked in surprise.

"Apparently, there was a little oral sex going on and she told Wendy that she enjoyed it," Hawk told her. "I'm on my way to the infirmary to ask her about it," Syn growled.

"And I'll head over to the motor pool and ask him about it," Hawk agreed.

It was only a couple of moments later that Syn stomped into the infirmary. "Trinity Nicole Abernathy, what really happened between you and Cross-Country in that room?" she demanded.

Trini Abernathy sighed. She motioned Syn into an empty room and explained exactly what had happened.

"Yes, I kind of enjoyed it. Mom, does Dad ever do that to you?" she asked. It was Syn's turn to blush as she admitted that she had no idea what Trini was talking about.


End file.
